Independence Day

Independence Day does a nice job of transferring jets-versus-flying-saucers combat from the big screen to the PlayStation. Here you fly an international air force composed of 10 jets, including fighters like the F-15 Eagle, the A-10 Wart-hog, and the Russian Sukhoi Su-72. For the grand finale, you pilot a captured saucer. The E.T. elimination covers IB international locales, including major cities such as New York, Paris, and Tokyo.

The graphics hold their own with cinemas lifted from the flick, sharp-looking jets, and fun ground-level views. You can actually pull stunts like flying underneath the Eiffel Tower. It's a gas, but unfortunately the stunts have little to do with mission objectives.

The controls are basic, but sometimes the jet-fighting seems like supersonic pinball. That's because the gameplay area is boxed by the massive mothership overhead, the buildings below, and a surrounding alien force field. You seem to slam into stuff everywhere.

Air Combat and Agile Warrior vets should obliterate these aliens in one sitting. But mid-level jet jocks who give this game a chance could find that Independence is worth fighting for.

ProTips:

Judiciously using air brakes (hold 12 and R2) is the key. Slow down to maximize shots, to grab power-ups, or to make pursuing aliens fly by so you can shoot them.

Finding Warp Tubes like this one over Moscow usually enables you to max out on power-ups.

Save at least two missiles for the City Destroyer.

reggie posted a review.

Overall rating: 5

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Game Reviews

One of the most original and popular video games from the early days of the industry was Space Invaders. Now, FOX Interactive is releasing Independence Day for the PlayStation, and in concept, it is almost an upgrade of sorts to Space Invaders.

When you think about it, the concept is the same. You pilot a ship in an effort to fight off an invading alien force. Only with Independence Day (ID4), the gameplay experience is completely different.

Obviously, ID4 is based on this summer's blockbuster movie of the same name. It should come as no surprise that such a popular, action-packed movie would make the transition to the video screen.

While there are many elements in IDA (the movie) that would translate well into a video game-it mainly focuses on the dogfights between the human's jets and the alien's fighters. Just like the movie, the massive alien destroyers loom above the battlefield, serving as a constant reminder as to the fate that awaits mankind if you fail.

In the game, you control a character very similar to the movie's Captain Hiller (played by Will Smith). While you never see your character, you do hear him a lot as he chats over the radio with the other fighters.

Your main goal is to bring down the destroyers. As in the movie, the only way to do this is to launch a missile right up the ship's main gun port. Unfortunately for Earth, the aliens aren't dummies, and they aren't going to make things easy for you. They have ample defenses to insure that their conquest of Earth goes smoothly.

Surrounding the destroyers is a powerful force field that cannot be penetrated by any of your available weapons. This same force field extends down around the circumference of the ship, essentially trapping you underneath it.

So if you're trapped under the ship and are unable to damage it, how do you destroy it? Well, even the aliens are going to overlook a few details (after all, in the movie, they didn't even have an anti-virus program in their computers). On the underside of the ship are some shield generators that are unprotected by the very shield they generate. If you can take all of these out, the shield goes down.

At this point, the main gun in the center of the ship opens up. This is your chance to get in there and launch that essential missile into the gun. While you're trying to destroy the generators, you will have to fight off an army of alien fighters who will lock onto you with their lasers. You can blast them with your machine guns or launch a missile at them for a quick and easy kill.

Adding a sense of urgency to the matter is the countdown clock on the screen. When the time runs out, the destroyer will fire its primary weapon and. well, kill everyone.

The early alpha version of IDA we received only had one level playable. While the canyon stage looks great, there will also be levels in various locations, including such cities as Washington, D.C.

When you tire of blasting aliens, you and a friend can play a split-screen or linked-up deathmatch where you fly the plane of your choice in an attempt to kill each other.

While the control needs a little fine tuning, IDA looks as though it has the potential to live up to the high expectation set by the hit summer movie. When this game is finally released, we can all relive the thrill of fighting off evil invaders from space.

MANUFACTURER - Fox Interactive

THEME - Flying

NUMBER OF PLAYERS - 1 or 2

reggie posted a review.

Overall rating: 5

The biggest sci-fi event of the summer (no, not The Island of Dr. Moreau) will soon become an equally big video game event. Independence Day (ID4) will explode onto the PlayStation with the same fast-paced action that made the movie so popular.

In the levels that we have seen so far, you pilot a jet fighter against the invading aliens. You fly over the city, blasting the aliens' fighters, while the vast city-destroying ships loom overhead.

With so much excitement riding on the ID4 name, you can expect the game to be just as much fun as the movie.